UTSA junior libero Paige Hamilton stood near midcourt, her head hung and a look of disbelief on her face. A few feet away, McKenzie Adams swung her right hand in anger.

It was a far cry from the emotional display the two players and their teammates probably envisioned having just a few moments earlier.

Exhilaration quickly, and incomprehensibly, turned to heartbreak.

Idaho erased three match points to capture an improbable 16-25, 25-18, 21-25, 25-20, 16-14 win over UTSA on Tuesday in the semifinals of the Western Athletic Conference tournament at the Convocation Center.

The No. 2 Vandals will play No. 4 New Mexico State, which swept top-seed Utah State 25-21, 25-19, 25-16 behind the play of former Reagan standout Preslie Alexander, who had eight kills and a .615 hitting percentage. The final is 4 p.m. today.

“It's just would've, could've, should've,” UTSA coach Laura Neugebauer-Groff said. “But it doesn't help you. It's still a loss. It was right there in our fingertips, and we just played some pretty stupid volleyball there at the end.”

The Roadrunners (21-9), the No. 3 seed, led 11-6 in the final set and were poised to win when Hamilton's ace gave them a 14-11 advantage. But Adams, the WAC Player of the Year who tallied 17 kills, 22 digs and three aces, had consecutive hitting errors to close UTSA's lead to one.

“There's no point in a match that you should be giving up,” Walker said. “We just tried to keep our energy up and keep playing to the end of the game. Both sides were playing really well. I don't think a match gets any more exciting.”

Or, for UTSA, more harrowing.

On a day setter Brandy Huskey played through a sprained left ankle, Whitney Walls dominated at the net (13 kills, six assisted blocks), and bench players Carly Wishlow and Erin Foley provided a spark, UTSA was left to ponder a crushing collapse.

“We had the momentum, and then things didn't work out for us,” Walls said. “It's really sad to end that way.”